- Reaction score
- 13,484
- Points
- 1,260
I'm actually surprised the separation rate (I'm assuming this means people leaving the military) is higher in Australia than Canada or the UK
https://www.afr.com/news/special-reports/afr-focus-defence/tapping-into-the-next-generation-successful-for-adf-recruitment-20180619-h11lad
Recruiting for the Australian Defence Force's has become more complex as the Commonwealth commits to new, sophisticated equipment.
And it is because of the high levels of skills required for the running of a modern military, that the ADF is actively trying to expand the quality of its candidate pool by encouraging women, Indigenous Australians and people of diverse culture and linguistic backgrounds, to apply.
"We recruit around 8000 people each year," says the head of People Capability, Rear Admiral Brett Wolski. "In the fulltime ADF, there are 59,000 people and the Defence white paper of 2016 gave us the target of 62,400 full time over 10 years."
Wolski says the new ships, submarines, planes and land vehicles that are being bought and built for the Australian Defence Force are complex and require higher skill levels to operate and maintain.
The equation means the ADF is on the lookout for young people who have either been studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects at school, or slightly older applicants who have applicable work skills.
"We can't recruit 'off the street' for the modern ADF," says Wolski. "We need people with the right attributes so we can train them up to the standard we need."
He says the roles that are expanding as the ADF becomes more technology driven include communications, intelligence, maintenance, cyber and the support areas such as clerical, administration and medical.
"Our big focus at the moment is on medical officers," says Wolski. "We're also looking for engineers and submariners."
He says in to recruit 8,000 Australians each year, the ADF takes 70,000 to 80,000 applications.
He says that the ADF has a recruitment rate of 98 per cent (of targets being met) and the "separation rate" is 9.4 per cent, compared with 8.5 per cent in Canada's armed forces and 9.3 per cent in Britain.
The ADF is actively seeking women and Indigenous Australians to ensure the applicants each year are of the highest quality, Wolski says.
"We want to ensure that we have the best selection of people we can get, knowing that we compete against a lot of other employers."
[More at link]
https://www.afr.com/news/special-reports/afr-focus-defence/tapping-into-the-next-generation-successful-for-adf-recruitment-20180619-h11lad